University of Chicago Library

Guide to the Robert Redfield Papers 1917-1958

Descriptive Summary

Special Collections Research Center
University of Chicago Library
1100 East 57th Street
Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.

Abstract:

Professor, anthropologist. The Redfield Papers span the years of Robert Redfield's association with the Department of Anthropology at the University of Chicago, from the mid-1920s when he began graduate work in anthropology to the end of his professional career in 1958.

Information on Use

Access

The collection is open for research.

Citation

When quoting material from
this collection, the preferred citation is: Redfield, Robert. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library

Biographical Note

Most of Robert Redfield's life and distinguished career were closely linked to the University of Chicago. He had graduated from the University's Laboratory School and its College, and had received the JD degree before beginning graduate work in anthropology with Fay-Cooper Cole and Edward Sapir in 1924. Upon the completion of his PhD in 1928 he was made an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology and from that date until his death in 1958 he was an active member of the faculty of the Anthropology Department. Promotions came quickly for him: by 1934 he was a full professor and in the same year was made Dean of the Division of Social Sciences: after giving up the Deanship in 1946, he served as chairman of the Department of Anthropology from 1947 to 1949.

When Redfield began his graduate work in anthropology, anthropology was taught in a department combined with sociology, thus giving him the full benefit of training in both fields. Faye-Cooper Cole and Edward Sapir guided much of his graduate training: in the field of sociology, the most influential member of the faculty, Robert E. Park, was the man who had first encouraged Redfield to pursue anthropological studies and whose work was to have an important effect on Redfield's conception of the nature of the social sciences. As a reflection of his student years, a few of Redfield's own student term papers are found in the section of "Student Papers: and in the "Personal Correspondence" can be found a record of his archaeological experiences in Bainbridge, Ohio, in the summer of 1925. Other than these, the collection contains very little record of his graduate training before beginning fieldwork in Middle America.

Redfield married Margaret Park, Robert Park's daughter, in 1920 and, because of her training in anthropology and sociology and her strong natural interest in people, Mrs. Redfield was always an active and important participant in fieldwork. In 1926, the Redfields began their first fieldwork in the small village of Tepoztlan, Morelos, Mexico. The eight months spent in Tepoztlan was the more difficult because the Redfields needed to keep their children safe during several incidents of Mexican civil unrest. A few field notes are found in the "Middle America Field Materials," but more extensive documentation of these months exists in the correspondence between Redfield and family members in Chicago, and his correspondence with Mrs. Redfield while she was temporarily in Tacubaya, Mexico.

From the work in Tepoztlan Redfield wrote his PhD dissertation, which was later, published as Tepoztlan: Life in a Mexican Village (1930). The body of the dissertation was published virtually unchanged, but with a new introduction. The original introduction to the dissertation is also very interesting: it can be consulted with the copy of the dissertation found in the general collection of the University of Chicago Library.

In 1930, Redfield began his association with the Carnegie Institution of Washington and its work in Yucatan. Initially, Redfield went to Yucatan to propose a cultural survey of the peninsula but soon after his arrival, a meeting was held at the headquarters in Chichen Itza and it was decided not to pursue a survey of contemporary cultures. Archeology was the first and biggest interest of the CIW in Yucatan and from this had sprung a very strong historical-reconstructionist approach to the study of modern cultures. Redfield made it clear he would not engage in this type of study (which he considered a search for survivals), but would go ahead, nonetheless, and draft a proposal for a different kind of study. Alfred Kidder, who was then associated with the CIW and who had attended the meeting in Chichen Itza, took an interest in Redfield's approach to the study of contemporary cultures and, after the proposal was submitted, advocated its implementation. The project, as outlined by Redfield, was undertaken and was destined to be both large and important. The preliminary events surrounding the cultural survey of Yucatan are documented by Redfield's correspondence to his wife (see the "Personal Correspondence"), and by the project proposals and their drafts found in the "General Files" under Carnegie Institution of Washington.

In 1931, the Redfields began their fieldwork in Yucatan. Chan Kom had been chosen as one of four communities to be studied and Alfonso Villa-Rojas, then a young schoolteacher, had already begun working in the village under Redfield's supervision. The Redfields joined him there for further work. These labors resulted in Chan Kom: A Maya Village (1934), jointly authored by Redfield and Villa, and was the first of the Yucatan community studies to be published. During the years of work in Yucatan other communities were studied: Asael Hansen undertook intensive work in the capitol city of Merida, Villa studied several villages in Quintana Roo, and Redfield studied the town of Dzitas. The entire project was done under Redfield's direction and as a result there are in the collection extensive field notes, field diaries, and correspondence relating to all this work.

Redfield was responsible for the supervision of similar work, also sponsored by the CIW, being done in the neighboring highlands of Guatemala by Sol Tax. In the spring of 1935, Redfield made an exploratory trip to Guatemala with a brief stopover in Yucatan. This trip is described in Redfield's letters to his family but the expected arrival of the Redfield's fourth child was the uppermost concern in his mind (he returned to Chicago just a few hours before the birth of his son James). During this trip, however, arrangements were begun for the Redfields to take up fieldwork in Agua Escondida, Guatemala.

In the spring of 1937, and from October to February of 1938-1939 the Redfields were working in Agua Escondida. At the time of the 1938-1939 trip Redfield was finishing The Folk Culture of Yucatan (1941) which synthesized all of the work which had been done in Yucatan in the 1930s and which included part of the results from Sol Tax's work in Guatemala. It was an enormous task, which reflected Redfield's ability to extract general trends from a morass of data.

All of the work done in Guatemala is substantiated by a large number of diaries, ethnographic field notes, and correspondence between Tax and Redfield. Also present are Benjamin and Lois Paul's notes from work done in Guatemala under the supervision of the University of Chicago Department of Anthropology.

In the late 1940s, Redfield's interest began to turn away from “the folk” and centered on “civilization.” Late in 1948 the Redfields set out for China where he was to teach at National Tsinghua University, Peiping. After a brief stay in Peiping the Redfields were forced to go to Lingnan University, Canton, and soon after that to leave the country in the face of the advancing Communist Army. The Redfields returned from China by way of Europe where Redfield delivered a series of lectures in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1949. The "Personal Correspondence" contains documentation of the China-Europe trip: related correspondence can be found in the "General Files" under Helen and Everett Hughes. The Frankfurt Lectures themselves are found in the section of "Redfield Publications." Photographs are the only material present from the brief stay in China and India. Scattered documents throughout the collection, however, clearly reveal his increasing interest in the study of comparative civilization.

From the beginning of this career Redfield had also been involved in a large number of national and international activities and had been active as a private citizen in many social causes. He was president of the American Anthropological Association (1944): was a member of the Commission on the Freedom of the Press: was a director of the American Council on Race Relations: a member of the Committee to Frame a World Constitution: and had been an advisor for the War Relocation Authority during the war years. In addition to these activities he was also a frequent guest lecturer at various universities and served on the boards of several foundations. As a man of great integrity who held high standards for himself and for things with which he was associated, his assistance was highly valued in the academic world: his name was often sought to back public causes. The records of these activities are found throughout the "General Files."

In the 1950s, Redfield began to remove himself from the strenuous obligations imposed by these and other activities and turned instead to more concentrated teaching and writing at the University of Chicago. Perhaps of greatest interest to him was the comparative study of civilization largely made possible through the generous grants of the Ford Foundation. This claimed the greatest part of his attention in the 1950s: the records of this project were deposited in the University Archives in 1972 and have been organized as a separate collection: "Comparative Cultures Project Papers."

After the mid-1950s Redfield had less time and energy to devote to his work because he suffered from leukemia. His remaining time was enthusiastically devoted to those activities, which had come to have special importance for him. These included work on the concepts of civilization, the nature and role of general education in modern society, and human nature. Even in the face of ebbing strength Redfield worked diligently and maintained, as always, his self-imposed standards. He passed away on 16 October 1958, in Billings Hospital from leukemia.

Scope Note

The Redfield Papers span the years of Robert Redfield's association with the Department of Anthropology at the University of Chicago, from the mid-1920s when he began graduate work in anthropology to the end of his professional career in 1958. When Redfield was appointed Assistant Professor of Anthropology in 1928, his professional files, which form the basis of this collection and provide systematic and thorough documentation of his career, were established. The "General Files" section here represents the bulk of this documentation, which is supplemented by extensive ethnographic material collected in Middle America, his manuscripts, his publications, and his teaching materials.

Series I: PERSONAL CORRESPONDENCE

This section contains over 300 personal letters, most of which were written by Redfield to his immediate family. Redfield seldom dated anything he wrote: to compensate for this lack the letters have been grouped according to the periods in which they were written. These periods include Redfield's first (and last) archaeological dig in the summer of 1925 while still a graduate student: the field work in Tepoztlan (1926-1927): the summer he taught at Cornell and finished his dissertation (1928): correspondence from 1926 to 1928 related to job offers and publications: field work in Yucatan and Guatemala (1930-1948): field work in China and the Redfields' travels in Europe after leaving China in 1949: a brief period in 1950 when Redfield was recuperating from bronchitis in San Miguel, Mexico: and letters from a variety of conferences he attended over the years.

Redfield was a devoted family man and intensely disliked being away from his wife and children. When possible Mrs. Redfield accompanied him in his travels, as both a valuable companion and a good researcher: the children were taken along on most extended field trips. When it was necessary for Redfield to be away from his family he was a constant correspondent, writing as often as time permitted, usually daily. These letters concentrate on family life and events, but also include vivid descriptions, impressions, and feelings about the events at hand. In addition they often express personal feelings about his work and his profession, which are not found elsewhere in the collection.

When Mrs. Redfield and the children were with Redfield he wrote long, thoughtful letters to his mother and to his parents-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Park ("Mother" is Mrs. Redfield, Sr.: "Mom" and "Pop" are the Parks) as well as to other family members and close friends.

Series II: GENERAL FILES

Nearly half of the Papers are in this section, forming a record of Redfield's professional activities until 1958 and covering both his work at the University and his work at the national and international levels. The contents are predominantly correspondence, supplemented by agendas and minutes of meetings, reports, announcements, project proposals and so forth. During the years covered here, Redfield was an active guiding force in the Department of Anthropology and, despite his extensive administrative and professional activities outside the department: it always claimed his first and strongest loyalty. The "General Files" do not contain extensive information related to Redfield's publications, fieldwork, or teaching, each of which is contained in a separate section of the collection.

The organization of the files represents the consolidation of two separate filing alphabets and the interfiling of loose correspondence, which had been removed from a file and never returned. The catch-titles on the original folders have been maintained in most cases, with the occasional addition of clarifying information.

Redfield's strongest interests can be seen from the following titles. Of greatest importance is his correspondence with students and faculty members at the University, and correspondence with other professional colleagues throughout the world. The list of correspondents includes, among many others: A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, E. E. Evans Prichard, Meyer Fortes, Monica Wilson, Fred Eggan, Sol Tax, Milton Singer, Helen and Everett Hughes, Alfonso Villa, Borje Hanssen, Wen Tsao, Francis Hsu, Surajit Sinha, Elsie Clews Parsons, Zora Neale Hurston, Sylvanus G. Morely, Daniel Cosio Villegas, and Alfred Tozzer.

The number of correspondents is large although the extent of the correspondence itself is very uneven: the work done by Tax and Redfield, for instance, generated extensive correspondence, both professional and personal, while the correspondence with Radcliffe-Brown indicates that an informal relationship existed between the two men but is disappointingly small in its size. As might be expected there is correspondence from a large number of anthropologists. Whether Redfield was writing to someone in the field or was receiving correspondence while in the field himself, there exists correspondence which details events in the University and in the profession. This body of correspondence might not exist had on-going fieldwork not temporarily prevented these people from personal participation in many events.

That students were of special importance to Redfield is clearly documented by the special care he took in teaching courses, evaluating the work of individuals, and supervising fieldwork done by PhD students. Whether students were in the College, beginning graduate work, or on the verge of becoming colleagues, Redfield was always attentive to the particular strengths and weaknesses of the individual, was honest and critical in his evaluation, and had a large reservoir of patience. The loyalty and inspiration engendered by Redfield's interest was often carried over to later years. Many of Redfield's students became prominent anthropologists and maintained a high respect for Redfield and his work, as well as close contact with the man himself.

Redfield was also associated with a large number of diverse organizations. Among others represented in the collection are: the American Anthropological Association, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Committee on Cultural Relations with Latin America, the Hispanic Foundation, and the Joint Committee on Latin American Studies.

A long-standing concern of Redfield's which is revealed in these papers was for the rights and protection of minorities in the United States. The files contain information related to organizations of a general nature (NAACP, the Anti-Defamation League) as well as to more specific instances of minority problems: Redfield testified as an expert witness in the Sweatt vs. Painter case dealing with segregation in a Texas college: he maintained a strong interest in the work at Tuskegee Institute: he worked with the War Relocation Authority during the war years (this body administered the Japanese-American internment camps): and took a stand against the "red scare," particularly as it threatened academic freedom in the university or the lives of personal friends. The American Council on Race Relations, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the National Indian Institute, the Committee on Education, Training and Research in Race Relations, are other bodies represented in the collection.

Redfield was also involved, generally on behalf of individuals or the University, with large foundations which provided substantial funding for the University-related research projects of the 1930s, '40s and '50s. The first and most extensive association was with the Carnegie Institution of Washington and of particular interest here are the proposals and reports submitted by Redfield in the 1930s.

Other foundations represented in the collection include the Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, the Social Science Foundation of the University of Denver, the Wenner-Gren Foundation (formerly the Viking Fund), and the National Research Council. For many years Redfield was a trustee of the Social Science Foundation of the University of Denver, and the collection contains extensive working papers, minutes and reports from the activities of this organization.

Education was an important topic in Redfield's writing but it is only found indirectly in the General Files through a myriad of people and topics. Greater documentation is present for Redfield's participation in the Commission on the Freedom of the Press and the Committee to Frame a World Constitution. The collection contains Redfield's correspondence and a few papers relating to these two bodies but few of the reports, drafts, or minutes of the bodies.

Few records exist which specifically related to the work of the Division of the Social Sciences while Redfield was the Dean: likewise there is little documentation of Redfield's role in the Council of the University Senate.

Series III: MIDDLE AMERICAN FIELD MATERIALS

The field materials have been arranged according to the area of study involved and are also largely chronological. The contents are varied, ranging from correspondence and brief entries in field diaries to typed notes and manuscripts of publications. Not only are Redfield's notes and collected ethnographic material present but also those of Alfonso Villa Rojas, Asael Hansen, Sol Tax, and Benjamin Paul, whose work was directly or indirectly supervised by Redfield.

The organization of these materials appears somewhat complicated due to the diverse forms of information and the complexity of its origin. The major divisions of this work are: Tepoztlan, Yucatan, Guatemala, Photographs, General notes, and Mexicans in Chicago. A brief description of the arrangement and content of each of these sections follows. Redfield's original folder titles, contents, and arrangements have generally been preserved throughout this section.

Tepoztlan materials include only a field diary, miscellaneous notes and some maps. A large number of corridos (folksongs) have also been preserved by transcription, in songbooks, or on broadsheets. These materials provided the foundation for Redfield’s discussion of corridos in Tepoztlan, A Mexican Village: A Study of Folk Life, published in 1930.

The Yucatan material, because of its bulk, is further divided into five sections: Cham Kom, Dzitas, Merida, Quintana Roo and general Yucatan. Again, these divisions and arrangements follow those created by Redfield.

The Chan Kom records are organized as follows: outlines and proposals for the field work (including rough outlines for the book Chan Kom), the collected ethnographic material by subject, Redfield's field diaries from 1930, and miscellany. The Dzitas material is arranged in a similar fashion but there are no field diaries: outlines and hypotheses, collected ethnographic data arranged by subject, and miscellany.

Asael Hanssen was largely responsible for the work done in Merida, and the collection includes his notes and drafts. It also includes "Life History of Antonia" by Margaret Park Redfield.

The Quintana Roo materials were collected by Alfonso Villa Rojas and include extensive field diaries from 1932-1936, typed notes by subject, miscellany, and Villa's correspondence and reports to Redfield, 1930-1938.

Folk Culture of the Yucatan (1949) represented Redfield's synthesis of the work done in Yucatan and some of the work done in Guatemala. Included here are an early table of contents for the book, articles, maps, and notes used in writing, photographs used in the book, and translations of the work into Spanish and Portuguese.

A Village That Chose Progress (1950) was an account of changes which had taken place in the village of Chan Kom since Redfield had first studied it in the early 1930s. The collection contains outlines and notes, census materials which had been collected, a typescript of the book and some miscellany.

The Carnegie Institution of Washington budgets for the Yucatan work and expense accounts for Redfield and Villa are also in the collections, along with some miscellaneous materials from Yucatan which did not fall into any of the above categories.

The Guatemala materials represent much the same diversity found in the Yucatan group but are not nearly so extensive. Redfield's and Tax's field diaries from 1937-1941 are followed by Redfield's notes on San Antonio Palopo and Agua Escondida, the brief Redfield article, "April Is This Afternoon" and Benjamin and Lois Paul's field notes from Guatemala. The Chiapas materials are notes and maps from the Tzetal project of 1942 collected by Villa.

Also included are photographs related to archaeology and ethnology, primarily in Yucatan, and a larger number of the negatives are present than prints. In nearly all cases the identifying information is very scanty, but most of the photographs were probably made for, and used by, the Carnegie Institution of Washington. A small number of photographs from Tepoztlan are also found here, as well as a few miscellaneous prints of unknown origin.

Several people, including M. J. Andrade and Karen Shields, created the photographs, which are assorted prints related to Yucatan and are not well identified. There are about one hundred negatives from photographs taken by Redfield and Villa in Chan Kom, 1931, but identifying information is incomplete. A file of negatives are primarily related to archaeology. Also included are a group of prints and negatives, primarily from Yucatan (Chan Kom and Chichen Itza), 1931, with little or no identifying information. Also included are glass negatives and a few negatives from Tepoztlan, 1927.

The General Notes on Middle America are notes, pamphlets, reprints, etc., from secondary sources and center mostly on Mexico. They may have been collected purely for background information or may also have been used in Redfield's writing and teaching. A small set of notes collected in the 1920s about Mexicans in Chicago complete the field materials.

In the late 1940s the National Research Council Committee on Latin American Anthropology began a project to microfilm field notes and other manuscript material from Middle America. The project was called the Microfilm Collection of Manuscript Materials on Middle American Cultural Anthropology, and includes among others, some of the notes found in the field materials in the Redfield Papers. Microfilm copies of Redfield's "Ethnographic Material on Agua Escondida," "Notes on San Antonio Palopo" and "April Is This Afternoon" are found in the collection which is located in the Library's microfilm reading room. A complete list of the Library's microfilm holdings related to this project is available in Special Collections: those items mentioned above, however, are the only parts of this collection represented.

Series IV: REDFIELD PUBLICATIONS

Redfield was a prolific writer whose publications cover a wide range of topics. Series IV contains a nearly complete set of his articles and smaller books: the topics and treatment range from informal accounts of field experiences, e.g., "Among the Middle Americans": through works of a purely anthropological nature, e.g., "Folk Society": to issues of a broader social nature, e.g., "America at War: The Japanese Americans." His concern over minority and race problems, his very strong interest in education, and his work for world government are strongly represented here in addition to the larger body of his anthropological publications.

The first file in the series contains a bibliography of Redfield's publications (though it does not include the large number of book reviews he wrote over the years). While this section mostly contains published items which appear on the bibliography, there are also notes and lectures which were not published by Redfield. Some of these have appeared in Mrs. Redfield's published volumes of the Redfield Papers (Papers: University of Chicago Press, 1962-1963), and a few have not been published in any form. Access by date of publication is available from the bibliography, whereas the publications themselves are arranged alphabetically in the collection to allow access by title.

The contents of these folders are represented by a variety of forms: rough notes, rough drafts, typed manuscripts, dittoed copies of the work, and reprints. Those folders which contain only notes toward a complete work have been noted, otherwise it may be assumed that some form of a complete work is in the folder. In addition, some folders also contain correspondence and/or secondary materials which had been collected by Redfield.

Most of the folders represent articles, but on several occasions Redfield was asked to give a lecture series which was later published in book form. The Primitive World and its Transformations began as the Messenger Lectureship at Cornell University: Peasant Culture and Society was originally prepared as a series of lectures at Swarthmore College. Redfield's major books related to his field work (Chan Kom: Folk Culture of Yucatan: A Village That Chose Progress) are represented among the publications by reviews, mailing lists, and publication correspondence, but the manuscripts themselves are with the field notes and outlines from which they were drawn (see "Middle American Field Materials").

Redfield was an active participant in the University of Chicago Roundtable broadcasts, a continuing series of programs sponsored by the University Radio Office. Two folders which have notes or correspondence relating to these are in this collection. Bound copies of the transcripts from these broadcasts are located in the University Archives. The index to the University Roundtable goes up to 1948, but the researcher should note that Redfield participated in these broadcasts at least until 1954.

Series V: TEACHING MATERIALS

Redfield's teaching materials have been left virtually unchanged: each folder reflects the title and contents of the original folders when transferred to the University Archives. These materials are diverse, and at times fragmentary and cryptic. They include notes on others' writing or lectures: Redfield's personal notes: rough outlines: notes to be used in giving lectures: and occasionally the fully written-out lecture. In some cases there are also correspondence, course syllabi, bibliographies and other supplementary materials. Some files reflect individual lectures given in courses while other files reflect lectures for an entire course: some are only notes for an anticipated lecture topic.

Nearly all of the lectures were given in the University: in the Division of Social Sciences, in the College, or in the Department of Anthropology, but the distinction between this and other parts of the collection is not easy to make. There is a direct and close relationship between Redfield's fieldwork, his writing, and his teaching. Often lectures in courses grew out of field experiences and in turn the lectures themselves were often published (e.g., "Folk Society" was originally given as a lecture in the College, was translated into Spanish by Sol Tax and published in Mexico, and was finally published in English some years later). Just as often, however, Redfield's published materials provided the initial point for a course. The Folk Society courses were given most often and interact extensively and intensively with fieldwork and published material. Overall, these papers point up the seriousness with which Redfield undertook his teaching: the courses were varied and interesting and he was not one to endlessly repeat the same course year after year. The notes testify to the amount of work that went into his lectures and the wide range of materials he incorporated into both his writing and his teaching.

Series VI: STUDENT PAPERS

This is a general Anthropology Department collection of student papers submitted to various faculty members. They range in date from the early 1920s to the mid-1940s and are predominantly concerned with ethnographic area studies. Although Redfield received many of these papers, some of his own papers written while a student, are included in this section. Most of the papers were written for Fay-Cooper Cole or Robert Redfield: the rest were submitted to Edward Sapir, A. R. Radcliffe-Brown and Fred Eggan. Included among the student papers are works by: Katherine Dunham, Leslie White, Sol Tax and Paul Kirchoff.

Series VII: BIBLIOGRAPHIC CARDS, NOTES, AND OVERSIZED CHARTS

Series VII contains cards with bibliographic references, and brief note cards with quotations from books and articles. All the cards have been arranged by subject and relate to Middle American ethnography: the subject headings cover the same broad range of topics found in the "Middle American Field Materials."

The original, but very brittle, index cards bearing the subject headings have been replaced and all of the information on the original cards has been transferred to the replacements.

Series VIII: ADDENDA

This Addenda consists of personal correspondence, miscellaneous biographical material, a small group of professional writings, a tape-recorded lecture, and photographs of family members and anthropological field locations.

The personal correspondence is concentrated in the period before 1930. Among the earliest letters are those written by Redfield to his mother during her stays at resorts in French Lick, Indiana and White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. The correspondence with his wife Margaret includes letters written to him before their marriage in 1920 as well as letters sent to Redfield during his frequent absences from Chicago. Redfield's letters to Margaret can be found in the Margaret Park Redfield Papers.

The chronologically arranged biographical material provides information on several aspects of Redfield's life, including his efforts to become a published poet, his tour of duty with the American Field Service ambulance corps in France, and subsequent attempt to obtain a military commission, his brief career as a lawyer, and his first teaching position at the University of Colorado.

The photographs in this Addenda depict conditions on the Aisne Front during World War I, activities of the Redfield family and friends at field sites in Mexico and Guatemala, and peasant life in communities studied by Redfield. Many of the field photographs are similar to those in the Middle American Field Materials of the Redfield Papers.

An annotated plan (1913) of the Redfield estate near Des Plaines, Illinois was added to the Archives' file of architectural drawings.

Related Resources

The following related resources are located in the Department of Special Collections: